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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRMinutes_2024_03_04Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Notes Monday, March 4th, 2024 5:30 PM 1.Call to Order Chair Erika Saunders called meeting to order at 5:30 PM. Board Members present: Erika Saunders, Steve Berseth, Doug Smith, Jay Larsen, Nathaniel Condelli, Stacy Zerfas, Erin Benz and Cade Christianson. Board Members absent: Brenda Andersen City staff present: Park, Recreation and Forestry Director Kristin Zimmerman, Assistant Director Parks, Recreation and Forestry Joshua Bauman, Forestry Supervisor Ryan Burggraff, Forestry Technician Jonathon Austin and Parks, Recreation and Forestry Office Manager Ashley Johnson. 2.Approval of Agenda Request to change #11 from Forestry Update to Departmental Update. Steve Berseth motions to approve, Nathaniel Condelli 2nds. Motion Carried. 3. Approval of Minutes Jay Larsen motions to approve the February 5, 2024 Minutes. Doug Smith 2nds. Motion Carried 4.Call to the Public There were no citizens of the public attending the Park and Recreation Meeting. 5.Introduction Kristin introduces Jonathon Austin as the new forestry technician. He brings in a lot of valuable experience as an equipment operator as well as being a welder. Jonathon is a volunteer firefighter with Brookings and a former United States Marine. All Board members also introduced themselves to Jonathon to welcome him to our team. 6.Discussion & Possible Action: Brookings Summer Arts Festival Brookings Summer Arts Festival will reserve the park from July 9th through July 16th. Last year the park saw over 30,000 people during the 2-day festival. Steven Berseth motions to approve, Nathaniel Condelli 2nds. Motion is carried 7.Discussion and Possible Action: Twin City Fan Event Twin City Fan will have an open house to celebrate their 50 years in business on June 20th from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. This will be the 2nd time that they have used our parks. Last year they used the bandshell, this year due to the construction we will move them to the west stage location. It coincides with Juneteenth which would mean leaving the stage up for those two events. This is a kid friendly event and the employees bring their families. Doug Smith makes the motion to approve, Cade Christianson 2nds. Motion is carried. 8.Discussion & Possible Action: Brookings Marathon Brookings Marathon will set up on Friday the 11th and the marathon will be starting Saturday the 11th. They will have to get further permitting through the city that doesn’t pertain to us. Jay Larsen motions to approve, Nathaniel Condelli 2nds. Motion is carried. 9.Discussion & Possible Action: Brookings Annual Car Show Brookings Annual Car Show has been held at pioneer for several years. This year it will be June 9th. Last year they moved so they are in the trees more and it provided shade for everyone. It worked out very well for everyone. We aren’t concerned about the turf because it is pretty shaded area. This was already discussed last meeting but we needed to formally add it on our agenda. Doug Smith motions to approve, Stacy Zerfas 2nds. Motion is carried. 10.Capital Project Updates: Pickleball Courts: Kristin presented a new pickleball court print out. Due to the costs coming in lower than what the engineers first thought we are able to increase the buffer size around each court and add some internal fencing. This will allow greater and more competitive play. City council awarded Base Bid A to Timmons Construction. Lighting will be purchased under a purchasing coop. We won’t have to go out to bid and they have a 25-year warranty. They have a needed feature of auto off for the lights to be turned off. Construction is set to be completed at the end of August 2024. Page 2 Pioneer Bandshell: City Council approved construction to Clark Drew Construction. The construction time line is the end of June 2024, so that is a head of our 4th of July events and of course the Brookings Summer Arts Festival. There will be a couple of weeks that we will need to move summer band and we will touch on that more at the next meeting. It looks like there will only be 2 that will need to be relocated. Edgebrook Golf Course: We received the opinion of probable cost since the last meeting, this does include a %15 contingency. The next steps are to verify the quantity of the water needed. We have already verified the quality and now we need to verify the quantity. We have to make sure that it will be a viable source and that is will be sustainable. It will take some time to assess the environmental impacts of the wetlands. If LG was our only water source it would decrease the pond by 1 foot a year. They will be checking to see if that will replenish itself. During the assessment they will go through several scenarios to decided our best options. We expect that this will take a while. The process going through the state does take some time. If we aren’t getting things done in a timely manor there are other avenues that we can exercise. We also need to work on the agreement with LG Everist, which is in process. The $812,902.00 is just the boring, this doesn’t include the lining of the ponds. It is about $100,000 difference than what we planed and we will likely be charged by LG Everist to use that water as well. 11.Departmental Updates: Ryan Burggraff and Joshua Bauman Forestry: Ryan Burggraff presented on what the Forestry Department has been doing recently. The forestry department has removed 103 trees which includes 75 ash tree removals. They have been proactively removing ash trees where it makes since with the upcoming emerald ash borer infestation. Forestry has been doing a lot of trainings as to not be caught of guard by the infestation. We are removing trees that wouldn’t make sense to treat. These would be low canopy and damaged trees. We are doing tear outs of wounded boulevard trees. We are making room to plant new trees. We do track how many trees that we take out so that we can replace those trees. Last week we removed 18 pine trees from Bob Sheldon Baseball Field. This will reduce debris, like pinecones and pine needles that are hard to get out of the turf. This will help with less maintenance and keeping the fields looking cleaner. We will be putting new trees in. We are always having on going pruning projects. We try to make sure that we are working around other people’s schedules. The pruning projects included Medary Avenue from 8th Street South to Yorkshire Drive on the East side of Medary. These were primarily ash trees. 8th Street South from 22nd Ave to Main Avenue South on the North side of 8th St. S we removed primarily crab apple trees. Medary Avenue from 5th Street South to 8th Street South on West side of Medary we are in the progress of moving more crab apple trees. 20th Street South from 22nd Ave to Main Avenue South on both sides of 20th Street South we will remove all Crab Apple Trees. We are working to maintain good clearances for trucks, we also work with the Street Department to make sure we are aware of their chip sealing projects. We like to stay ahead of their projects so that they aren’t having tree interference. We are about 21% for Ash trees one on boulevards. We plan to continue with the population reduction, pruning and trimming. We also help with snow removal when needed. We are preparing for spring clean up as well. They have a street crew and then we have a crew that helps. We will be receiving our new tree inventory which is about 250 to 300 trees a year. We have switched to planting them in the fall. They are placed in the sand over the summer and they tend to put on a little better root growth. Its also more ideal for our crew because it isn’t as hot. Urban Forestry Program: We are switching it up a little bit this year. This year we have $30,000.00 budged this year. We will be going back to receipt turn ins. We are also going to go down to one reimbursement for one household. Last year you were able to get reimbursed for up to $125.00 for two trees. This year you will get reimbursed for one tree up to that $125.00. They will buy their tree and bring in the receipt and we will write them a check right there in the office. This will help to streamline the process and there will not be any waiting or issues with the finance department having to cut checks. It will be first come first serve. Doing it this way we will be able to track the amounts that we have left daily instead of waiting for vouchers to be returned. It will be the same as last year, first come first serve. We had a lot of claimed vouchers last year that were not used. So, this way we will also know that this program is being utilized. We won’t be covering tree planting this year unless a reasonable accommodation is requested. Trail Map: This is the final Draft Copy, we will have this in the recreation program guide, at the office and other locations through out the city. Hiring Update: We are hiring for a Park Supervisor; the position is now closed and we do have interviews set up for next week. Page 3 2023 Budget Savings: We were able to create a PT Recreation Specialist for the Activity Center. We have the job description ready and we hope to open that up before the next Park Board meeting. This will be a part time position. We are also going to move forward with the Financial Sustainability Study. We may have some challenges with funding in the future due to tax money going away or possibly not receive the amounts we are use to. We want to make sure that we are preparing ourselves financially for the future. We don’t want to have a reduction of services. The firm will work with the Board, city council and do community presentations. They will help use to determine acceptable subsidy rates. We are currently working on part time salary pay. We are working with HR on our job descriptions. We are hoping that will help us get the staff we need and keep them on board working for us seasonally. Brookings Activity Center: The Elks room is almost done being renovated. The floor is finished and the painting is done. The are working on the wainscoting now. We hope that it will be open by the end of the week. Grant Funding: Land and Water Conservation Fund and Trails grants are now open for 2025 funding cycling. We are looking at these to help make our dollar go a little further. Topics that Park Board would like to discuss in the future: 1. A foundation for the park and recreation board. 2. Adult Recreation Opportunities and Marketing Strategy. 3. E-bikes and rules 4. School construction updates 12. Adjournment Doug Smith motions to adjourn, Cade Christianson 2nds. Motion carried. Meeting ended at 6:09 PM